• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.183-199
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• 2008

This study is focused on characterization of the physio-chemical and mineralogical properties, investigation of their vertical changes in the tailing profile of the Guryoung mining area, classification of the profile into distinct zones, and condition conceptual model of physio-chemical conditions and phases-water relationships controlling the element behaviors in the tailings. The upper part of the groundwater is characterized by the high contents of $Fe_2O_3$ and $SO_3$ for whole rock analysis, low pH, and the occurrence of jarosite, schwertmannite and Fe-oxyhydroxide as the secondary mineral phases. The tailing profile can be divided into the covering soil, jarosite zone, Fe-sulfate zone, Fe-oxyhydroxide and gypsum-bearing pyrite zone, calcite-bearing pyrite zone, soil zone, and weathered zone on the based of the geochemical and mineralogical characteristics. The profile can be sampled into the oxidized zone and the carbonate-rich primary zone with the dramatic changes in pH and the secondary mineral phases. The conceptual model proposed for the tailing profile can be summarized that the oxidation of pyrite is the most important reaction controlling the changes in pH, the dissolution of the primary silicates and carbonates, the precipitation of secondary mineral phases, acid-neutralizing, and heavy metal behaviors through the profile.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-42
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• 2002

The late Quaternary deposit of Cheonsu Bay, up to 20 m in thickness above the Jurassic granite basement, consists of two sedimentary units: an upper Holocene mud and sandy mud deposit (Unit M1), and a lower late Pleistocene sand and mud deposit (Unit M2; 'Kanweoldo Deposit&apos). Unit M1 is a typical Holocene tidal-flat deposit of Cheonsu Bay, showing a coarsening upward, retrogradational facies trend. This retrograding facies trend is probably due to a relative low sedimentation rate during Holocene transgression. Overlain unconformably by Unit M1, Unit M2 deposit reaches up to 14 m in thickness and is mainly composed of muddy sediment with yellow to gray color. This unit is characterized by a variety of tide-influenced signatures such as rhythmic bedding, flaser bedding, crab burrow fossil, marine dinoflagellate assemblage and authigenic glauconite mineral, indicating very similar depositional environment to those of Unit M1 deposit. It suggests that Unit M2 was probably accumulated under the tidal-flat environment during a pre-Holocene sea-level highstand. In particular, the uppermost 3-4 m of Unit M2 appears to have undergone subaerial exposure and subsequent weathering during the sea-level lowstand after deposition. Therefore, stratigraphic unconformity between Holocene and late Pleistocene sediments is highlighted by the desiccated and weathered surface of Unit M2.